As you can see, the vast majority of papers were authored by a single author. However, these single authors came from a rather small number of research institutions.

Frequency distribution (German and Austrian authors only)

This is a frequency distribution of the number of publications for each researcher. While some foreign authors had between two and three publications in German aviation medicine journals,
overall their significance was not too high. As seen in the chart, the vast majority of authors had only one publication in the field. This is due to a variety of factors, such as only having limited
interest in the field and just publishing as a result of a small grant by the Luftwaffe, or to publish one's doctoral work and then moving on to other fields.

Top 10 of authors

Perhaps not surprising, the three most senior figures in German aviation medicine were also the persons with the most
publications. “Senior” referring to independence here rather than quality of the work (Ruff's publications were
solely accident reports in the first couple of years). Strughold, Ruff and Benzinger were heads of research institutes
(Ruff: Medical department of the DVL, Strughold: Aeromedical Research Institute at the Air Ministry, Benzinger: Medical
Department at the Luftwaffe Aeronautical Establishment at Rechlin) and thus in control of their work. Most of the other authors
were in a more dependent position, either as assistants to one of the three mentioned before, or their departments were under the
supervision of Strughold. In 1941 most research institutes — including university departments — dealing with aviation
medicine were put under Strughold's command; excluding Ruff and Benzinger. The DVL was formally a civilian association and the
establishment in Rechlin was under the control of the technical director of the Air Ministry (and its medical department answered
to General Surgeon of the Luftwaffe, Erich Hippke, directly). Consequently, Ruff and
Benzinger were out of Strughold's “reach”.

Top 10 of authors (single authorship only)

Not much change from the previous chart. Ruff, Strughold and Benzinger still the top three.

Publications per year

The chart correlates nicely with development cycles in the Luftwaffe. Between 1935 and 1936 there
is a big hike in numbers, because the Luftwaffe was officially incepted in 1935, i.e. now the German government
could fund research in aviation openly. In 1938 there was the peak of R&D spending in the Luftwaffe, i.e.
all airplane design for the upcoming war was finished that year, hence a peak in funding. After the successful
beginning of World War II the Germans did not spend too much on aviation related research. Only after the
“Battle of Britain” was lost in the summer/autumn of 1940 did the Germans increase funding in
the hope to even out the odds. It soon became apparent though that issues in engineering and materials (i.e.
shortage thereof) were the main concern, and thus aviation medicine was neglected (and many researchers drafted
into the Luftwaffe to serve as flight surgeons etc.). The small peak in 1942 is largely through the
high-altitude fighter and bomber program, which increased funding for medical research shortly. However,
engineering issues turned out to be more serious than medical questions (the main problem was that the engines
the Germans had were not powerful enough to go up to superior heights, compared to the Allied air forces), and
medical research consequently dropped.

Publications per year per journal

Not so much difference to the previous chart. The proportions between the journals are rather constant. Perhaps the only
thing of note is the relative increase in ZWB reports around 1941 (although the total number of publications dropped). As
mentioned above, the lost Battle of Britain meant increased research activity towards a high-altitude flight program by the
Luftwaffe Command. While a good number of ZWB reports were later published as articles in the journal Luftfahrtmedizin,
some of them were classified at the time (as they were concerning secret projects). The increase in numbers in ZWB reports compared to
articles in Luftfahrtmedizin hints at the then secret research into high-altitude flight, as many of the ZWB reports did not
make it into publicly available journals.

A Venn diagram showing authors between 1933 and 1945, and those authors found in German Aviation Medicine in World War II (GAM WWII).
As you can see, there were only a few authors in GAM WWII that have never published anything in the field before — chiefly because GAM WWII has chapters on metereology and engineering in it and those authors wouldn't normally publish in the field of aviation medicine.

Lfm

LfmAbh

Acta

ZWB

GAM WWII

Count

182

44

28

58

56

Number of distinct authors per publication

ZWB

18

Acta

0

5

LfmAbh

7

15

4

Lfm

23

31

10

21

∩

GAM WWII

ZWB

Acta

LfmAbh

Overlap between the different publications

The tables with the data used to generate previous Venn diagrams. The table on the left shows the number of distinct
authors per publication; the table on the right shows the overlap between publications, i.e. the number of authors
who published in either publications. Perhaps the only surprise is the relatively low number in overlap between
authors who have published
in Acta Aerophysiologica and other journals. This is first and
foremost due to the rather high number of foreign authors in Acta Aerophysiologica. Not only would it publish
articles in foreign languages (there were articles in French and Italian), but its editor
Ludolph Brauer would also encourage foreign authors to send in articles.
Later publications were less open-minded, i.e. there were fewer foreigners.